w 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 

' # 

\ [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] i 



{ UNITED STATES OE AMERICA,! 



..niiii'iPiii-il^.iili! 







MATHEMATICS IN FEMALE EDUCATION. 



ABSTRACTS FROM THE ARCHIVES 



|ktpi[s Jfettrak Jnstiltitf, 




Nos. 435, 437, 439, FIFTH AVENUE, 

NEW-YORK. 






NEW-YORK: 

JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND BINDER, 

CORNER OF FRANKFORT AND JACOB STREETS, 

FIRE-PBOOF BUILDINGS. 



1860. 



^S=^$ 



4 N 



V 



%' 






of ft* gtWtitttlt. 

HENRY M. PIERCE, A.M. 



§0Bfiff 0f SrttiStwu. 



Rev. ASA D. SMITH, D.D , President. 
E. D. BROWN, Treasurer. 

JOHN W. C. LEYERIDGE, Secretary. 
JOSEPH HOXIE, Rev. T. ARMITAGE, D.D., 

JOHN GRAY, M. T. HEWIT, 

RICHARD VAUGHAN, HENRY M. PIERCE, 

WILLIAM K. HINMAN, E. H. MITCHELL, 

CHARLES G. HARMER, SPENCER KIRBY, 

O. W. WOODFORD, Rev. W. S. CLAPP. 




V 



L 



Our Wew Location. 

In issuing a new Circular of our time-honored Institute, the Trustees pre- 
sent with pride the new and favoring circumstances under which the Fall 
Session of 1860 will open. More than twenty years ago, the Rutgers Fem&le 
Institute was the pioneer of those Institutions which have since followed her 
lead, in establishing a high standard of female education ; in offering an op- 
portunity and all necessary appliances for developing the female mind in V 
strength and understanding; and, by rigid and systematic training, in bring- 
ing it to that high culture, for which it had been thought incapable or un- 
fitted. Through the wisdom of its early founders, in establishing a progressive 
system of education, and the untiring care and watchfulness of those who 
have had its subsequent supervision, the Rutgers Institute, after a long and 
successful career, is still found in the van of a host of similar institutions, 
which have worthily followed in her wake, and whose success is the best gua- 
rantee of the worth and efficiency of the system which she inaugurated. That 
she might not recede from her position of priority, so long maintained among 
the female schools of New- York, the Trustees felt constrained to join the on- 
ward march of improvement, and seek a new location <; up=town." Taey now 
present the result of their choice — the new buildiDgs on Fifth Avenue, be- 
tween Forty-first and Forty-second streets — confident that the beauty and 
healthfulness of their location, and their adaptability in all respects to the pur- 
poses intended, will meet the approval of the friends of the Institution. The 
numerous aZwrma of our Institute, as well as its present patrons, will be recon- 
ciled to the desertion of the old buildings, around which cluster so pleasantly 
their youthful associations, when assured that their honored Alma Mater, in her 
new dres3 and new surroundings, retains the same fostering care and the same 
maternal regard for the daughters cf her charge, as under the old regime. 




¥ 



To our Patrons. 

The best evidence we can offer our patrons of the efficiency and usefulness 
of the Rutgers Institute in the cause of female education, is, undoubtedly, the 
living testimony of the six thousand young ladies who have enjoyed its ad- 
vantages. These have borne for the Institute, into every part of our land, a 
reputation, for solid intellectual acquirements, elegant accomplishments, and 
healthful moral and religious training. 

The recorded testimony is not less satisfactory than the living. In its early 
inception — under the wise guardianship of the present venerable Chancellor of 
the University, Rev. Dr. Ferris — Mrs. Sigourney says of its organization : 
" We rejoice that in our commercial and dominant city a system of education 
for the female sex i3 established of such breadth and solidity." But perhaps 
we can give no better evidence of the solid basis on which the course of in- 
struction at this Institute is founded, than is presented in the Reports of the 
Committees on Mathematics, as they have appeared each successive year from 
the pens of gentlemen eminent for scientific attainments and devotion to edu- 
^ cational progress. 

Tbe abstracts which we transcribe from these Reports show: 1st. The 
estimation in which men of high culture hold this science as a branch of edu- 
cation. 2d. The capability of the female mind to comprehend and master its 
principles, and receive benefit from the mental discipline acquired by its study. 
3d. The extent and thoroughness with which its advantages are made avail- 
able in the course of study pursued at the Rutgers Female Institute. 

From the Report of 1840. Thomas McCauley, Esq., and George F. Allen, 
Esq., Committee. 

After giving the duration and details of the examination, the Report says : 
. . . "The Committee were much gratified, and indeed surprised, at the 
readiness with which the pupils solved their problems, their evident familiar- 
ity with Mathematical principles, and their ready application of these prin- 
ciples to the solution of questions. The members of the Committee have 
rarely if ever witnessed an examination so creditable alike to teacher and 
pupil, evincing skillful, judicious, and faithful instruction on the part of the 
one, and intelligent, persevering, and well-directed study on the part of the 
other." 

From the Report of 1841. E. C. Benedict and T. McCauley, Esqs., 
Committee. 

. . . " Having now performed the duty assigned to them, the Commit- 
tee are unwilling to let this opportunity pass without expressing to the Trus- 



~V_S^5^ 




ftS^S^. 



tees and Instructors of the Institute, their cordial approbation of the educa- 
tional policy which unites with the lighter studies and more graceful arts o r 
usual female accomplishments, that thorough instruction in solid learning and 
exact science, which can not fail to give steadiness and strength to the cha- 
racter, and fitness to perform, with a wiser and more careful discretion, the 
various and important duties, whose right performance should be the pride 
and the honor cf American women " 

From the Report of 1842. Prof. Joseph Henry, Sec. of Smithsonian Inst., 
Vir. B. Kinney, Esq., and Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., Committee. 

. . . " The subjects on which the young ladies were prepared for exam- 
ination were the following : 1st. The general principles of Algebra, including 
the management of fractions and of surd quantities ; the investigation of the 
binomial theorem ; the rules of involution and evolution ; arithmetical and 
geometrical progression, and the doctrine of equations of the first and second 
degree. 2d. The application of the foregoing principles to a great variety of 
problems, particularly of such as involved the reduction of a quadratic equa- 
tion. 3d. Plane and Solid Geometry. 4th. The use and construction of Loga- 
rithms. 5th. Plane Trigonometry. 

"The examination was conducted in a manner to put the knowledge of the 
jL pupils to the severest test. The numbers of the problems in Algebra corre- 
*f sponding to those in the text-book, were written on folded pieces of paper, and 
from the pile formed of these and placed upon the table before the examiners, 
each pupil drew one at random, so that previous to opening the paper she 
must have been entirely ignorant of the numbers of the problem she would be 
called upon to solve. The numbers of the propositions in Geometry were 
drawn in the same way, and each pupil was required to enunciate from me- 
mory the text of the proposition which had fallen to her lot. Also in the 
progress of the solution or demonstration, as the case might be, the several 
steps of the progress were required to be fully explained. 

11 The examination was continued until the Committee declared themselves 
fully satisfied with the evidences of proficiency which had been exhibited. 
They were surprised and delighted with the rapidity and precision with which 
the exercises were conducted, and although they have frequently attended 
examinations of males, yet they are free to say that they have never been pre- 
sent at one which surpassed this in the evidence given on the part of the 
pupils of a thorough acquaintance with the subjects. 

11 The Committee were pleased to find that the text-book used in Algebra was 
one which abounds in difficult problems, affording full exercise in the more 
abstruse parts of the subject, and that the principles of the science had been 
taught verbally by competent teachers as ofcen as the progress of the pupil in 
practical expertness required a new explanation. It will be perceived by this 
remark, that the Committee are in favor of the old method of teaching called 
drilling, provided it be connected as it is in this case with frequent explana- 
tions of the principles. 

" In the course of the examination the Committee have been strongly im- r 

r^y ■ v^^i 



cl 



I 



J 



pressed with the importance of the Mathematics as a branch of female educa- 
tion. A philosophical course of instruction is one which tends to develop in 
harmonious proportions all the faculties of the mind, and since from the consti- 
tution of the female, and her peculiar position in civilized society, she is prone 
to an undue exercise of the imagination, the Committee believe that she re- 
quires just that training which the proper study of the mathematics is so well 
calculated to give. Algebra, as it is taught in this Institution, affords an ad- 
mirable exercise of the attention and the invention ; and Geometry has ever 
been celebrated for the strength and precision it imparts to the reasoning 
faculties. The Committee are, moreover, convinced that there is nothing in- 
compatible with all that is amiable and interesting in the female- character, 
and the highest attainments in literature and science. Indeed there is an ex- 
ample of this at the present day. Mrs. Mary Somerville, although the 
learned authoress of a Mathematical exposition of the Celestial Mechanics of 
La Place, is well-skilled in music and in painting, and in the acquisition of 
her profound attainments, she has lost nothing of that sensibility and sweet- 
ness of character which ever made her the admiration of her acquaintances-, 
and now render her the loved as well as respected of her family." 

From the Report of 1843. Albert B. Dod, Esq., and Rev. John M. Krebs, 

D.D., Committee. 

A 

W ..." The Young Ladies of the First Class were examined in Algebra, 

Solid Geometry, and Plane Trigonometry. The examination on these several 
subjects was extensive and rigid ; and the Committee were delighted with 
the satisfactory evidence which it afforded throughout, of the most thorough 
and systematic drilling in the principles and practical operations of those 
branches of abstract science. With scarcely an exception, the problems and 
theorems, which were all assigned by lot — and many of them were of the most 
difficult kind — were solved with the utmost facility, and accompanied with the 
most precise account of the several steps and processes employed, and of the 
principles upon which they depended. As a further test of their proficiency, 
the Principal had previously proposed to the class questions selected from 
works with which they had no acquaintance, and which they were required 
to solve in writing, in the presence of the Principal, and of the Assistant 
Teacher of Mathematics. These problems, about thirty in number, selected 
from the Cambridge problems and other works — many of them difficult of so- 
lution — and wrought out under circumstances which put to the completest 
proof the unassisted powers of the pupil, afforded, in connection with the oral 
examination, a thorough test of scholarship." 

..." The Committee can not conclude without expressing anew the 
very high gratification which they have received from the evidence afforded 
by this examination of the successful training of the Young Ladies of the In- 
stitute in the exact sciences. It would have been difficult for any person to 
attend this examination without being made to feel that the power of close 
/ attention, inventive method, and accurate reasoning displayed by these young \ 
\P ladies at the black-board, must tend to impart strength to the mind, and to 0/ 

r|_ „ Jk 



cl) 



prepare it to deal with all other objects with like precision and accuracy. It 
is impossible that they who have been so carefully exercised in mental opera- 
tions that are definite, and by processes that are throughout exact, should not 
have received from it an influence toward the formation of a habit or general 
cast of mind, that is of inestimable valu£, as a preservative against the errors 
resulting from calling things by wrong names, and from vague and inconclu- 
sive modes of reasoning. The influence of this kind which is furnished by the 
exact sciences, can not be as well supplied by any other study. The ability 
to think aright is second only to the ability to feel aright ; and it is no less in- 
dispensable to the highest comfort and happiness of woman in her social posi- 
tion, than it is to the success of man in his larger sphere of action. And the 
experience of the world, for ages, has proved the importance of Mathematical 
instruction as the means of training the mind to habits of close and accurate 
thinking. 

" The Committee have, for these reasons, derived much satisfaction from ob- 
serving the completeness of the Mathematical course in the Institute, the tho- 
roughness with which this course is carried out in the instruction of the pupils, 
and the zealous assiduity and success with which the Young Ladies of this 
Class have so generally applied themselves to its study. The competency and 
faithfulness of their instructors could not have been more fully evinced or 
more gratefully rewarded." 



-y 



* 



6 iAi 



From the_ Report of 1845. Blias Loomis, Prof. Nat. Phil, and Astronomy, 
Yale College, and Edwin Hall, Esq., Committee. 

After full details of the examination, the Report says : " The Committee 
can not refrain from expressing their satisfaction at the indications of a healthy 
public sentiment in favor of the introduction of substantial studies into a 
couise of female education. If the character of those who are to enact our 
laws, who are to sit in judgment upon our lives and property, is shaped and 
moulded by a mother's influence — can she be deemed worthy of her high trust, 
who has learned but to admire a pretty story or the latest music ? In these 
days of crude theories and reckless innovation, we may well despair of the re- 
public, if during the forming period of their character, the rising generation 
are not imbued with right principles of thought and action before they leave 
the domestic circle, hzt women be trained in those lighter accomplishments 
which impart to them their power over the lords of creation ; but let their 
minds also be disciplined by severer studies for the discharge of their respon- 
sible duty — that of training up a new generation to which shall be intrusted 
the destinies of our country." 

Pram the Report of 1846. Rev. Stephen Alexander, D.D., Rev. Geo. B. 
Cheever, D.D., and Elbridge Smith, E?q., Committee. 

. . . " The Committee beg leave to add, that facts such as those which 
they have felt themselves called upon to present, must be regarded as furnish- 
ing the best possible answer to those, if any, who may be disposed to question \ 
the utility or propriety of a somewhat extended and thorough Mathematical jj 

' r 

5^2^/ — \^c=^S 






10 



course of instruction in our female seminaries — a course which, aside from the 
accuracy which it introduces or makes attainable in every other department of 
science, as well as of art, is itself preeminently adapted to secure the invalu- 
able attainment of thinking to the purpose, that is, the power of close and accu- 
rate reasoning." 

From the Report of 1841. Prof. Charles Davies, LL.D., and W. M. 
Gillespie, Esq., Committee. 

The Committee report : . . . " That they were present at, and took part in 
the general examination of the 1st, 2d, and 3d departments in Algebra, Geom- 
etry, (Plane and Solid,) Plane Trigonometry, and the Differential Calculus. 

" The pupils drew their subjects from a collection of folded ballots, containing 
only the number of the book and proposition in Geometry, or the page and 
example in Algebra ; and then immediately proceeded to the black-board to 
draw their figures and solve their problems. They subsequently explained 
their operations, and were questioned and cross-examined by the members of 
the Committee, with a strictness and minuteness which made the examination 
a very severe ordeal and an accurate gauge of relative ability and acquire- 
ments. 

" The results of these tests enable the Committee very sincerely and heartily 
A to congratulate the Trustees of the Institution and the parents of the pupils 
upon the high degree of proficiency displayed. The general familiarity of the 
scholars with the subjects of examination, the promptitude of their answers, 
andtfheir clear comprehension of the priuciple3 involved, testified to excellent 
original capacities for these studies, and to the admirable system of instruction 
by which they had been fostered and developed. 

" The Committee desire also to express their gratification at the just import- 
ance and preeminence given to the study of Mathematics in this Institution. 
Those who object to a large infusion of this element in a course of Female 
Education, do so, either on the ground of the natural unsuitableness of 
woman's mind for such a study, or of its uselessness in after life. The first ob- 
jection is effectually refuted by such evidence as is supplied by this examination. 
Those who adopt the assumption of the volatility of the female mind, and its in- 
capacity for fixed thought, should be reminded that the correction of such defects 
where they do exist, is the characteristic attribute of that study of which the 
Sage of Yerulam writes : ' If a man's mind be wandering, let him study the 
mathematics, for, in demonstration, if his mind be called away never so little, 
he must begin again.' Nor can either man or woman find that study useless, 
which, beyond all others, is calculated to induce habits of close and accurate 
thought, and to train the mind to the most faultless, exquisite, and transcend- 
ent logic. Women, as well as men, need to be taught how to reason, and will 
have constant use for this faculty every day and hour of their lives, and for the 
attainment of this great end, nothing can supply the place of mathematics. 

"Although a young lady, after completing her mathematical course, may never 
f again directly refer to the separate subjects, still, the effects upon her mind 
If will remain, and in her future occupations she will find this knowledge of es- j 

\ I 



£=2^ 



L 11 



sential service. It will give symmetry and order in the discharge of her house- 
hold duties, and operate as a balance-wheel in controlling the excitements and 
impulses incident to every condition of life. 

. . . "The commendation of those young ladies whose names have been 
mentioned for the honors, does not diminish the merits or impair the standing 
of their class-mates. The brightest stars in a constellation do not exclude the 
light or dim the lustre of the others; and although the severe tests of this ex- 
amination have developed differences, they have also made manifest the pure 
and brilliant light of the entire galaxy." 

From the Report of 1848. Prof. Charles Da vies, LL.D., and Joseph 
McKeen, Esq., Committee. 

. . . " The Committee were entirely unacquainted with the young ladies 
examined, and therefore had no knowledge of the relative standing of the 
members of the class, with what subject each might be particularly conversant, 
or of the questions which each might be most competent to answer. 

"The examination was conducted without any aid drawn from the text- 
books, and hence each pupil was called on to answer from her knowledge of 
the subject, and could not avail herself of words committed to memory, or of 
impressions but faintly and imperfectly made upon the mind. 

" The examination was continued for more than five hours, and searching 
^ and severe tests were applied. The answers, the demonstrations, and the dis- 
cussion of abstract and difficult principles, all evince a high proficiency in 
mathematical science. 

" On this point the Committee desire to be und-erstood. They do not regard 
as belonging to the science, all that may be said on the subject. The clear and 
distinct idea ; the choice of the very word which is the exponent of the idea, 
and no other ; the arrangement of ideas so impressed on the mind according to 
the rules of rigorous logic, constitute, in the opinion of the Committee, the 
science of Mathematics. If the Committee are right in this opinion, the 
science of Mathematics is not acquired with a partial knowledge of the geo- 
metrical magnitudes. Much may be known of these in a general sense, with- 
out any clear perception of the accuracy of definition, the beautiful simplicity 
of an axiom, or the irresistible force of a demonstration. 

"The Committee have confidence in stating, that they found the minds of 
the pupils imbued with the spirit of the subject. Yery few propositions were 
declined, and scarcely any questions were missed; but these facts did not im- 
press the Committee so strongly as the general accuracy of the language, 
evincing as it did, the capacity of receiving and the power of combining ab- 
stract ideas, and of marking those shades of difference which are perceived 
only by minds which have been rightly trained." 



A 



From the Report of 1819. E. C. Ross, Professor of Mathematics in the Neiv- 
York Free Academy, and Rev. Dr. John M. Krebs, Committee. 

"The Committee report: That they were present, and participated in, the 
examination of the classes in Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry; and were 






12 



V 



highly gratified with the proficiency of the young ladies, and the manifest 
efficiency of the course of instruction which resulted in such an interesting ex- 
hibition of mathematical attainments. 

" The examination in Algebra was thorough, embracing the whole range of 
subjects contained in the Text-Book. The most difficult theorems in Geometry 
were demonstrated with a clearness of reasoning, and accuracy of expression, 
that would have been creditable to the pupils of our highest institutions of 
learning. 

" The manner of the examination, throughout, was of such a nature as utterly 
to preclude any possibility of making a mere show of simulated scholarship — 
of preparation on special topics, or drilling on selected problems — without that 
knowledge of principles and skill in their application, which alone makes the 
pupil at home with the illustrations and uses of the science which has been the 
professed subject of study. It was evident, not only that the pupils brought 
before us were mistresses of these principles, and expert in explaining and ap- 
plying them to their important practical uses, but that the processes of training 
through which they had been led by their instructors, had tended to the for- 
mation of the not less important and valuable habit of thinking. And, although, 
as might be expected, there were differences both of capacity and of attain- 
ment, nevertheless was there evinced by all these pupils, a degree of interest 
in the subjects of study, at once most creditable to themselves and to their 
3 ^ teachers ; and an amount of conscientious devotion to the duties required of 'h 
them, quite remarkable when contrasted with the listless indolence which it 
has been our lot too often to witness, among the greater number of youth of 
the opposite sex, in our Colleges." 

From the Report of 1850. Charles W. Hackley, Professor of Mathematics 
and Astronomy, Columbia College, Gerardus B. Docharty, Assistant Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, Free Academy, and Wm. H. 
Crosby, Esq., Committee. 

. . . " That they were present at the time, and took a prominent part in 
the examination of the classes in Algebra, Geometry, Plane Trigonometrjr, and 
Analytics ; their time (five hours) not allowing them to enter into an examina- 
tion of the graduating class in the Differential Calculus. Much to their own 
regret, and to the disappointment, perhaps, of the young ladies, this branch of 
mathematics was not reached : but so far as the examination went, it showed 
that they were well versed in mathematical science ; that they had a profound 
knowledge of its principles, and a ready skill in applying them to the elucida- 
tion of the various subjects which were presented before them : it confirmed 
the Committee in the exalted opinion they have hitherto held of the Rutgers 
Female Institute, and its repatation as a Seminary of high rank in literature 
and science. 

" When we consider the importance of the study of Mathematics to the arts 
of civilized life ; its effects in disciplining the mind ; its power in controlling 
and concentrating thought ; in giving symmetry and order to sentiments and 



^^ 






ideas, we can not place too much value on those institutions of learning, in 
which it is properly and systematically taught. 

" The examination in Algebra was thorough and complete ; embracing Equa- 
tions of the First and Second Degrees ; the Calculus of Radicals ; the Binomial 
Theorem ; Indeterminate Coefficients ; the General Theory of Equations ; in 
fact, the whole range of subjects contained in the Text-Books was clearly dis- 
cussed and intelligently exemplified, with a facility of expression, and a per- 
spicuity of reasoning, that gave evidence that the process of training through 
which the youDg ladies under examination had been led by their instructors, 
was such as to make them correct thinkers as well as expert analysts. 

11 The Committee had expected an intellectual entertainment of no ordinary 
kind ; but their anticipations were far surpassed by the actual and vivid reality. 

"Not satisfied with their performance on the black-board, the neatness and 
accuracy of their solutions, the Committee questioned them minutely, in order 
to ascertain the depth of their mathematical knowledge ; compelling them to 
pass an ordeal which none could accomplish without fully understanding the 
subject. Here could be no deception. Their manner of answering the most 
difficult and intricate questions, gave ample evidence that they were mistresses 
of the science. 

"Had the Committee spent less time at Algebra, the young ladies would 
have had an opportunity of proceeding farther, and displaying their ability in 
the more beautiful and interesting branches of Analytical Geometry, and the 
Differential Calculus. But they may remember, that although the subjects in 
which they were the most critically examined, came first in order, and may be 
esteemed of a lower grade, still they are far from being the most easy to gifted 
minds. Those who have travelled through the intricate paths of Algebraical 
Analysis, as these young ladies have done, and become so intimately acquainted 
with every step of the progress, with every inch of the ground, find the fields 
of Analytics and the Differential Calculus comparatively a garden of flowers, a 
place of literary repose. 

11 In Plane and Solid Geometry, Trigonometry, and Analytical Geometry, the 
examination was continued with the same impartiality and success. The 
young ladies drew their problems from a collection of folded ballots, and pro- 
ceeded to the black-board to delineate and demonstrate them. This they per- 
formed with the readiness and accuracy of accomplished mathematicians. 

"Under an examination of this kind, nothing but a profound knowledge of 
the subjects could have enabled them to triumph. The graduating class par- 
ticularly gave evidence that to superior minds they had united indefatigable 
perseverance and industry. These properly fostered and directed by their 
talented Principal, and accomplished lady professor, have carried them to a 
high degree of eminence in mathematical acquirements, for the attainment of 
which, the Committee beg leave to congratulate them, and the Institution that 
has performed its duty in so efficient and successful a manner." 






i 



14 



From the Report o/1851. Prof. Charles Davies, LL.D., and Prof. John A. 
Nichols, Committee. 

..." The classes were examined in the following subjects : 
" 1st. Algebra; from the text of M. Bourdon. 
" 2d. Geometry; from the text of A. M. Legendre. 
"3d. Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical. 

. . . " In all the subjects, the Committee are happy to say, that the pupils 
manifested a high degree of proficiency. The Committee were entirely unac- 
quainted with the pupils whom the Faculty presented for examination, and 
even with most of the Instructors who had taught them. They went as 
strangers to examine the choice fruits of labor at the close of the academic 
year. They found those fruits abundant, and of the best quality. 

" The clearness and precision of the answers, the accuracy of the demonstra- 
tions, the depth and tone of thought, which were so strikingly and so strongly 
exhibited, are unmistakable evidences of good instruction and good scholar- 
ship. 

" A course of scientific instruction, to be useful, must be thorough and uni- 
form in its methods. The same general language is employed in Arithmetic, 
Algebra, Geometry, and the higher Calculus ; and the same laws of combina- 
tion and the same principles of reasoning are alike applicable in all. In the 
recent examination the Committee have witnessed the good results of such a 
uniformity. 

"The Committee also believe, that the clear conceptions, the accurate use of 
language, the habit of arranging and classifying ideas, and the simple and 
rigorous logic required in mathematical investigations, are not only necessary 
for scientific pursuits, but are also the best basis of a general education. High 
intellectual development forms the only true foundation for those accomplish- 
ments and elegancies of life which give to character its most attractive graces. 
The root and stem are necessary to the flower, which indeed can not bloom 
without them. The hardest metal takes the highest polish, and the consistency 
of the diamond is necessary to make it the queen of gems." 

From the Report of 1854. Elias Loomis, Professor of Natural Philosophy and 
Astronomy, Yale College, and F. L. Hodges, Esq., Committee. 

..." The Committee are satisfied that the Mathematical instruction at 
the Institute is conducted upon a judicious system and in a faithful manner. 
The pupils are made to comprehend clearly the principles which are taught. 
The study of the Mathematics is not made a blind effort of memory without the 
exercise of reason. This is abundantly proved by the facility with which the 
pupils solved difficult problems ; and by their answers to numerous questions 
propounded by the Committee. We are satisfied that the standard of mathe- 
matical attainment at the Institute is much above that of Female Seminaries 
generally in our country." 



15 



From the Report of 1855. Prof. Eli as Loomis and Joseph McKeex, Esq., 
Committee. 

..." The Committee can not conclude their Report without expressing 
the gratification they have derived from witnessing the continued evidence of 
the estimation in which Mathematical studies are held at the Institute, and the 
success with which they are cultivated. While* we are not aware of any in- 
stitution for general education w r hich does not comprehend some portion of the 
mathematics in its list of studies, it is too often the case in our female semi- 
naries that young ladies are taught to nibble daintily at the Mathematics, as if 
a hearty meal might prove injurious, either to their intellects or to their morals. 
Indeed we have been pained to find that some who have charge of the insti- 
tutions were more solicitous about the neatness with which a geometrical dia- 
gram might be drawn, than they were about the correctness ; and valued 
grace of manner above profoundness of intellect. We doubt whether there is 
another Female Seminary in the United States, where six young ladies can be 
found, who can furnish more elegant solutions of the test-questions, than have 
been furnished by six members of the graduating class ; we believe that the 
mathematical studies are pursued at the Institute with a thoroughness and 
success not surpassed by any similar institution in the country ; we know that 
as regards very many of them, the Institute is in this respect incomparably 
their superior. To say more might be deemed invidious ; to say less, would 
jjn be injustice to those who have prescribed the course of study at the Institute ; A 
and injustice to her to whom the mathematical training of the pupils has been 
Intrusted." 

From the Report of 1857 . Prof. Richard H. Bull and Prof. J. A. Nichols, 
Committee. 

The Committee say in their Report : . . . " That they examined the pupils 
during a period of nearly five hours, in nearly every branch of pure Mathe- 
matics. The questions were in Algebra, including the Binomial Theorem for 
any exponent, and the general Theory of Equations ; Plane and Solid Geom- 
etry ; Plane Trigonometry and Analytical G-eometry of two dimensions. This 
course is very extensive, and the Committee were highly gratified with the 
answers of the young ladies." 

. . . " That the pupils of Rutgers Female Institute can show such pro- 
gress as was exhibited to the Committee, in this grand and perfect science, is 
a cause of pride to the Trustees of the Institute, to all its instructors, and 
especially to the accomplished instructress of this difficult branch of knowledge. 
They have reason to be proud that such results of its teachings can be shown 
to the public, and such an example set to other institutions of learning." 

..." No expressions of praise that could be employed would be too 
great in speaking of the degree of scholarship exhibited by all these young 
ladies. The precision and correctness of their answers, and the elegance of 
their written exercises, could only be exceeded by the charming modesty with 
which these rich fruits of a sound education — an education which cultivates 
at the same time the mind and the heart, the taste and the manners — were 
brought to view by the scrutinizing questions of the Examining Committee." 



16 



From the Report of 1859. J. T. Benedict, Professor of Mathematics in the 
New - York Free Academy, and Prof. J. H. Fanning, Committee. 

. . . " It is very gratifying to the Committee that they are able to give so 
favorable a report of the Mathematical attainments of the present graduating 
class. It is particularly worthy of remark that the Institute should continue 
to maintain its high position as leader in the cultivation of the Mathematics, 
notwithstanding it is in a Metropolitan City, where young ladies have many 
inducements to be governed by the dictates of fashion, rather than by the laws 
of exact science. The examination was continued during Tour hours, and em- 
braced the subjects of Geometry, Trigonometry, Plane ana Spherical, with their 
application to Surveying, Navigation, Mensuration, and Astronomy. The ex- 
amination in G-eometry was of the most satisfactory character, and indicated 
faithful and systematic instruction, as well as untiring application by the in- 
structed. The ease with which the members of the cla«^ enunciated the pro- 
positions throughout the whole range of Plane, Spherical, and Solid Geometry, 
evinced a remarkable degree of familiarity with the subject. The demonstra- 
tions were so clear and concise, as to furnish the most satisfactory evidence of 
the salutary effect of the logic of Geometry upon the minds of young ladies. 
In this connection the Committee can not refrain from expressing an opinion, 
that such results can only be attained by leading the pupil, step by step, 
through the entire Geometrical field, instead of giving attention to only a small 
portion of the same, as is too frequently done in our female schools. We can %* 
not place too high an estimate upon the importance of thorough and systematic 
instruction in Geometry, when we reflect that the logic w* ih leads a young 
lady to an undeniable geometrical truth, is the same in kind, as that which 
must guide her to just conclusions in Literature, Philosophy, and Art. In 
Trigonometry, there was the same degree of proficiency manifested, indicating 
a knowledge both of principles and their applications. The Committee noticed 
with much pleasure the freedom and power evinced by some of the young 
ladies in this subject, that evidently were acquired by their previous thorough 
acquaintance with Algebra and Geometry. Finally your Committee feel con- 
fident that the Institute will continue to maintain its justly high position as a 
mathematical school, so long as there is such vigorous faithful i?ss on the part 
of its instructress, and such persevering industry on the part of the pupils." 

From the Report of 1860. Prof. J. T. Benedict, Prof. B. S. Hedrick, and 
Pro f . C. W. Hackley, of Columbia College, Committee. 

. . . " The Committee have had comparatively a familiar acquaintance 
with the Mathematical course of Rutgers Institute for a succession of years, 
and with the proficiency of the graduating pupils in the principles of the science 
and their application ; and they cheerfully avail themselves of this Report to 
express their satisfaction at the manner in which the fifteen graduates of to- 
day have sustained the well-earned reputation of their Alma Mater — and to 
congratulate the Board of Trustees on this evidence of the efficiency and faith- 
/ fulness of their present corps of teachers." 



ft 



17 



\ 



It is gratifying to the piide of race in every human breast, to bo able to ap- 
peal to such evidence as is given in these Reports, of the capacity of the female 
mind to comprehend the sublime truths of abstract science, and its ability to 
rigidly apply these principles in unravelling the mysteries of creation, and in 
explanation of those wonderful phenomena which fill alike the uneducated and 
the educated mind with awe and reverence for the power and the goodness of 
that Being whose mind alone comprehends the immensity of the universe, and 
whose Almighty hand has fashioned it, and endowed it with life and motion. 

"It must be evident to every reflecting mind, that the results which have 
drawn this testimony from men, themselves so severely trained and so accom- 
plished in this department of learning — as those whose distinguished names 
are appended to these Reports — could be attained only by unremitted applica- 
tion, long continued under the most favoring circumstances, and by a syste- 
matic progression, from step to step, to its full attainment. And this is true ; 
for many of these young ladies, who have drawn these commendations from so 
severe an ordeal, commenced at the Institute with their ABC, and ascended 
with their years and their acquisitions through the different departments to 
their maturity and final graduation. This uninterrupted application and syste- 
matic progress is, in a measure, the secret of their success, and of the extent 
of their acquirements. 

In estimating the advantages of these acquirements in the duties and re- 
sponsibilities of after life, aside from the discipline of mind attained by their 
study ; aside from the greater ease to comprehend less abstruse subjects, the 
order and system which the well-trained mind brings out of the chaos of every- 
day occurrences, and the charm which female education throws over the dull 
routine of domestic duties — aside from these, what benefit does it not confer, 
and what power does it not give her, in her own more peculiar sphere, in the 
higher and holier duties of maternal life. To be able, with a mother's love, to 
train aright the growing intelligence of her offspring; to meet the first be- 
wildered astonishment of the little neophyte at the wonderful and sometimes 
awful phenomena of nature, with the assurance that these are governed by 
fixed laws, and the explanation of those laws ; and, as her child's capacity en- 
large 3 , to interpret nature in all its phases, and thus lead the young mind 
from nature to the great Author of all her laws ; to be able, with the force of 
her own acquired understanding, to impress these great truths upon her child's 
mind in the most plastic period of its life, and transmit to it the blessings she 
has herself received in her own education, must be to the mother a source of 
/ exquisite happiness, and lead her to look back upon her school-days and her \ 
\ school-day acquisitions, as of more value to her than rubies or fine gold. )J 

i v 



